


How Many Tums Do You Have To Eat, Before You Make Your Skin Turn Pink

by Dots



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Firsts, Fluff, Humor, M/M, One Shot, goro 'what are feelings' akechi, goro akechi being stupider than any of us ever could have imagined, um. i dunno other than that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21754471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dots/pseuds/Dots
Summary: Akechi deals with the age old problem that has been haunting our planet for generations—Heartburn.(short one shot written for the first day of Shuake week)
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 9
Kudos: 116





	How Many Tums Do You Have To Eat, Before You Make Your Skin Turn Pink

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I wrote this for the first day of Shuake week, but if you havent noticed, it is certainly not Shuake week anymore. Whoops. The prompt was firsts/lasts. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_Absolute bullshit. Tums shouldn’t be this expensive._

Goro pressed his lips together and tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. Of course such a shoddy pharmacy would overprice something as simple as tums. He’d hardly expected any different in a store open so late. Had he an ounce of something to lose, he would turn and leave, wait until morning. Find something more reasonably priced and save a few hundred yen. Ridiculous. 

Unfortunately for him, despite how little he wanted to be seen here, leaving without buying anything would be worse. It would seem suspicious. Impolite, even. He could see the tabloids now, headlining his shady late night business in all its glory. 

Not to mention, his throat felt like it was on fire. Like acid bubbling up from the depths of hell. Absolutely agonizing. But he considered it the least of his problems. Less even, than his ever thinning wallet. But. He had already made his choice. Simply by deciding to walk in. 

Wholly unhappily, he bought the tums. 

He started his trek back home. The burning sensation was painful and present, but he would never take pills in public, especially not in the dead of the night. He wouldn’t let anyone's imaginations get the better of them. 

The train ride was short, though progressively uncomfortable. He huffed to himself. He was not typically one for heartburn. Perhaps something was in the coffee. 

He reached his apartment building, and had never cursed living on a high floor more than he did right then. The burning was reaching into his stomach now. How pleasant. He tried to keep his discomfort from showing on his face. 

Each step was a chore. He wished whatever was wrong would get on with it. Either kill him, or go away. Whichever was faster. He had work to do tonight, and he was sure it would follow him way down into his grave. He didn’t have time for this. 

He entered his apartment and hardly wasted a second. His shoes were off, his tie was loosened, and two tums were popped into his mouth. 

A terrible crunch. Like chewing on chalk. They tasted like a nightmare. Not worth his 2200 yen. He wondered how many minutes of work that was. How many seconds. 

He tried giving himself a moment to relax and let the medicine settle. He ran over what he’d eaten that could’ve given him heartburn, of all things. He had never really had it before, he hardly knew what it felt like. Only the coffee came to mind. 

He hoped it wasn’t that, though. That café seemed comfortable. The atmosphere was nice. Absolutely out of the way from any sort of press. And discovering that Kurusu Akira worked there had been a very pleasant surprise. 

Kurusu was interesting enough. Intelligent seeming, though a little quiet. He didn’t find that exactly unique, but their conversations had been intriguing up until now. 

He was hard to read, which was uncommon. That must’ve been why he found their talks interesting; his answers were harder to predict. Goro wasn’t sure how to read his face. He was sure that would change soon. He was nothing special. No reason to get attached to a nobody. He simply didn’t stand out. 

His chest stung. The tums were not working. He was getting frustrated, these were supposed to be fast acting. Yet another example of his wasted money. He would not be returning to that pharmacy. The employee was lousy anyway. He did expect at least the bare minimum of customer service. Kurusu didn’t smile, but at least he didn’t act like his presence was another inconvenience for the night. His chest continued to burn harder. 

Well, you can’t overdose on tums. He took two more.

Crunch.

Disgusting.

What was in that coffee? It had tasted fine. And he hardly suspected that he was disliked enough to be poisoned. He didn’t think Kurusu would have it in him anyway. Could he have just made it wrong? He seemed competent enough, though. He hesitated blaming him, but it seemed most likely. 

He considered calling him. Just for a second, before shutting that idea down entirely. Of course he couldn’t call him. What would he say? ‘Hello, how are you. Just curious, did you make exclusively terrible coffee, or perhaps even poison me? Let me know!’ 

If these stupidly overpriced tums didn’t start working soon, he was going to lose his mind. 

He tried clearing his throat. Just gulping it down. He drank two glasses of water. It wasn’t going away. 

He even tried just focusing on his work. Which, to no one's surprise, did nothing. All he could think about was that terrible burning and what on earth Kurusu could’ve done to his coffee. 

His face was flushed. His toes were curling. He was now on his sixth tum. Could he have really been poisoned? 

Of course not. Obviously not. No one had poisoned him for walking into a coffee shop. Kurusu didn’t hate him. Not that it mattered, exactly. But he was sure he didn’t. At least, not enough to poison him. If anything, he probably felt indifferent about Goro. Which was fine. That’s how he felt about Kurusu, of course. And he wouldn’t poison him. Not for feeling indifferent, anyway. So he settled it. He hadn’t been poisoned, because Kurusu didn’t care enough. Good. 

He hoped he wasn’t allergic to anything in the coffee. Maybe it was a special blend, something he could avoid the next time he visited. If that was the case, it would be easy. Don’t drink that blend. How simple. 

Though he didn’t order a special blend, did he.

He wondered if it would be reasonable to go to a café but not drink any coffee. He was sure they sold other drinks. They served curry as well. That would work. 

And, obviously, it wasn’t as if he had to go into _this_ café. He didn’t. It was just more convenient for him. He didn’t want to give up a good find. He’d been looking for something a little out of the way, something less known. And it seemed very warm. He felt welcomed there, to an extent. And the customer service wasn’t so bad either. 

Two more tums. 

He wondered how long it would take for him to wait this out. There were times when it lessened and times where it flared. He had no idea how heartburn worked, past that apparently tums being remotely effective was a myth.

He googled it. Specifically treatments. He was pretty certain he had heartburn, given that it was his heart and yes, it was burning. His advice was: to avoid citrus and chocolates (fine), use over-the-counter antacids (wrong), and avoid lying down (oh). 

Should he stand? 

He stood. 

Nothing changed. Incredible. Not that he expected it to. He thought maybe to walk around. Which felt very weird to do in his apartment by himself. He never opened his curtains anyway, but double checked to see if they were closed. To think if someone saw him wandering in circles by himself. What a joke. 

It kind of worked. Enough to let his mind drift from the heartburn and onto his work, thinking about what he had to do, when he could get around to doing it, how to control his commute time. He thought about changing trains earlier on, maybe biking to a farther station. He may have to change things a little if he is going to keep spending his evenings in that little café that’s so out of the way and seeing that Kurusu boy again— 

Fuck. 

_Could_ you overdose on tums? He might as well try. 

He had things he needed to finish tonight. And what was he doing? Walking in circles eating tums like candy. If candy was made of limestone, maybe.

After what felt like his hundredth, he realized these were now giving him a whole new kind of stomach pain. He closed the cap for the night, chewing his money away. 

It wasn’t like he couldn’t stomach coffee. Why was it different now? Did Kurusu really just fuck up that badly? He had a feeling it was his fault. In fact, this wasn’t the first time he’d felt this way. It was on a more minor level, but it was present. This feeling of discomfort. 

Could it be that he was doing something to him? This whole time? He did already have some suspicions around Kurusu. But what on earth could he be doing? 

Maybe he was over exaggerating. It wasn’t really likely that Kurusu was a part of some elaborate scheme to mildly inconvenience his work nights with heartburn. 

But maybe… worth investigating. After all, if this were to escalate, who knows what might happen. He could really poison him. 

Just thinking about it made his throat sting more️. How annoying. He wasn’t going to take anymore tums. 

Maybe he should sleep on it. He’d been awake for too long anyway. He didn’t remember how long exactly. Maybe sleep was what he needed. 

And, he was too distracted to work as he was now. Kurusu would have to tolerate his coming into the café tomorrow and putting up with him until he’s finished. 

His heart burned at the thought. 

**Author's Note:**

> First crush.
> 
> tumblr: [honeydots](https://honeydots.tumblr.com/)  
> twitter: [honey_dots](https://twitter.com/honey_dots)


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